A storage system typically comprises one or more storage devices into which data may be entered, and from which data may be obtained, as desired. The storage system may be implemented in accordance with a variety of storage architectures including, but not limited to, a network-attached storage environment (NAS), a storage area network (SAN) and a disk assembly directly attached to a client or host computer. The storage devices are typically disk drives, wherein the term “disk” commonly describes a self-contained rotating magnetic media storage device. The term “disk” in this context is synonymous with hard disk drive (HDD) or direct access storage device (DASD). It should be appreciated that disk drives are examples of media accessible as storage. Other types of media, including optical media, solid state memory, and the like, are possible for storing data.
Client computers typically communicate with the storage system to either read data previously stored by the storage system or to write data. Written data is typically stored by the storage system to storage devices in the storage architectures described above. As demand for storage devices increase, because of ever increasing amounts of written data, typical solutions are to buy more storage devices. However, it is expensive to continue to buy storage devices. For example, costs include purchasing disks, and possibly, installation costs. Thus, it would be preferable to be able to supply storage devices for writing data while minimizing the cost to purchase and install the storage devices.